Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-12
a.
g. MR.. IVES.
Tho Career of Henry s. Ives on Wall
Street.



The more light there is thrown upon
the details Of the deals of Henry S. Ives
& Co., the more wonder is expressed that
they could have been carried on so long.
A later dispatch from Cincinnati de-
scribed the treasury of the Cincinnati,
Hamilton and Dayton Railroad as "com-
pletely Quilted" 1t was said that So ,000,-
600 in stock and money had been taken
from the roads treasury to be used in the
deals in which its stock has figured. The
question as to what will become of Ives
& Co. will be settled largely, Of course,
by the truth or falsitY of this statement,
0dt enough is already known OF their
operations to make il sure that they have
added an interesting chapter to the his
tory Of Wall street,
The sun, whose reporters seem TO have
had the best idea of the financial Condi-
ton OF Ives & Co. in the past, estimates
their liabilities at Sl2, coo, 000-a pretty
respectable sum, when we consider that
the young lnanCieT started in Wall street
with limited capital and 8 questionable
reputation. His method seems to have
been q simple one. Having bought a
railroad CT A, he would hypotheCate his
securities to b 10 pay for it. Then, being
in full possession Of the road, al he had
20 do was to grind out some more seCuri
ties with which to borrow money from c
to pay B, and so on indefinitely.
There is one feature in the career of
Ives that is especially striking. II is not
an uncommon thing for merchant or
broker who thinks he can make money
by extending his business to borrow from
Paul to pay Peters note and to continue
this practice until he is sWamDed. But
to do this, he must first have shown
honesty and business capacity to induce
the keen Witted men of Wall street 20
loan him money. Ivea seems to have
been regarded suspiciOusly from the first,
yet he was able t. carry on 3 tiOurishing
business Later on he became entangled in
such compromising schemes, that the
| stock exchange governors felt obliged to
suspend his partner, but this did n9t af-
| feet his ability to borrow money. Wher
! this action was resCmded and he was
given q certificate of responsibility, con
| servative Wall street men were scan
| dalized and the affairs Of Ives & Co. were
thoroughly discussed and Cverhauled. Blu
the young fnancier went merrily on aE
though nothing had happened, only stop
ping long enough to threaten to bring {
number OF libel suits for defamation o.
| character
The frog who tried to swell up to the
size OF an OK would still have been alive
if he had had correct idea OF his own
SIZE, and Mr.. Ives would probably no
now be harrassed by angry creditors i
he had not tried TO swallow the Balti-
more and OHIO Railroad. If the story il
true, however, that he has offered to turf
over all his property to his creditors, i
they will pay his debts and give hin
$500 600 in cash, it is evident that Mr.
Ives does not propose to let his ligh
flicker even at the end. AS partner Stay
ner remarked to q reporter, they do no
seek glory, nor is their object persona
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, and they are perfectl.
willing to retire into the background if /
shall be deemed advisable.